title: The culture of primary motor and sensory neurons in defined media on electrospun poly-L-lactide nanofiber scaffolds.
abstract: Electrospinning is a technique for producing micro- to nano-scale fibers. Fibers can be electrospun with varying degrees of alignment, from highly aligned to completely random. In addition, fibers can be spun from a variety of materials, including biodegradable polymers such as poly-L-lactic acid (PLLA). These characteristics make electrospun fibers suitable for a variety of scaffolding applications in tissue engineering. Our focus is on the use of aligned electrospun fibers for nerve regeneration. We have previously shown that aligned electrospun PLLA fibers direct the outgrowth of both primary sensory and motor neurons in vitro. We maintain that the use of a primary cell culture system is essential when evaluating biomaterials to model real neurons found in vivo as closely as possible. Here, we describe techniques used in our laboratory to electrospin fibrous scaffolds and culture dorsal root ganglia explants, as well as dissociated sensory and motor neurons, on electrospun scaffolds. However, the electrospinning and/or culture techniques presented here are easily adapted for use in other applications.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Michigan, USA.
authors.forename: Michelle K
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Leach
authors.forename: Zhang-Qi
authors.initials: ZQ
authors.lastname: Feng
authors.forename: Caitlyn C
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Gertz
authors.forename: Samuel J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Tuck
authors.forename: Tara M
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: Regan
authors.forename: Youssef
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Naim
authors.forename: Andrea M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Vincent
authors.forename: Joseph M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Corey
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D003470:Culture Media; D003584:Cytological Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D004622:Embryo, Mammalian / Q000166:cytology; D005260:Female; D009046:Motor Neurons / Q000166:cytology*; D057139:Nanofibers / Q000737:chemistry*; D036103:Nanotechnology / Q000379:methods*; D011091:Polyesters / Q000737:chemistry*; D011247:Pregnancy; D051381:Rats; D011984:Sensory Receptor Cells / Q000166:cytology*
chemical_list: D003470:Culture Media; D011091:Polyesters; C033616:poly(lactide)